University News

PAC Presentation Sept. 26

September 21, 2011

MACOMB, IL -- A public presentation of the approved schematic design for the Performing Arts Center at Western Illinois University will be held from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26 at the Tri States Public Radio Music Performance Studio, 320 W. University Drive.

Cannon Design (formerly OWP/P, which has merged with Cannon Design) and Pelli Clarke Pelli (PCP), the center's architectural design teams, along with Michael Hott, WIU architectural superintendent/capital projects, will present the approved Performing Arts Center (PAC) design and discuss the next stages of the project, which has been on hold since March 2009.

According to Hott, the presentation will detail the approved design. The construction document phase is currently underway and tentatively scheduled to be completed by November 2012. Architects will develop the technical documents that will be used to bid the project later next year, Hott added. Construction is estimated to begin in January 2013.

The Performing Arts Center, which has been designed by the architectural/design firms of Pelli Clarke Pelli and O'Donnell, Wicklund, Pigozzi, and Peterson (OWP/P), will include a 1,400-seat proscenium theatre auditorium with two balconies, a 250-seat thrust stage and a 150-seat studio theatre. There also will be dance, jazz and theatre rehearsal studios; dressing rooms adjacent to the theatres; a scenery/design workshop and a costume shop; administration offices; and a loading dock which will accommodate semis and buses for professional touring companies and orchestras.

The $67.8 million capital project is funded by the Illinois Capital Development Board (CDB).